The present invention relates to a grille shutter attaching structure of an automotive vehicle in which a grille shutter unit provided with shutters and a frame pivotally supporting shutter shafts provided at the shutters is attached to a frame-shaped shroud supporting a heat exchanger.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 2014-198509 and 2017-39368, for example, propose some examples of the above-described grille shutter attaching structure of an automotive vehicle. The first patent document discloses a structure in which a frame-shaped (square-tubal shaped) unit frame portion (33) is provided at a grille shutter unit (30) (see the paragraph [0037] and FIG. 11 of the first patent document) and the grille shutter unit (30) is assembled to a front-side lower portion of a shroud member (20) (see the paragraph [0053] and FIGS. 6, 8, 9 and 11 of the first patent document).
The second patent document discloses another structure in which a shutter frame member (53) is formed in a frame shape (square-tubal shape) (see the paragraph [0077] and FIGS. 5 and 6 of the second patent document) and the shutter frame member (53) is attached from a front face of a shroud member (28) (see the paragraph [0078] and FIGS. 2-5 and 7 of the second patent document).
As exemplified in the above-described first and second patent documents, the grille shutter unit is generally configured such that the frame-shaped frame supporting the shutter shafts provided at the shutters is provided and this frame-shaped frame is attached to a front face portion of the shroud together with the shutters.
However, since the grille shutter unit provided with the frame is attached such that the grille shutter unit protrudes from the front face portion of the shroud, it may be necessary to provide a frame member which is specially used for the firm (strong) grille shutter against collision which is disclosed in the above-described patent documents. Accordingly, there is a concern that a weight or cost increase may be caused.